December 02, 2014

MPVR On TV: MS Public Broadcasting Southern Remedy

In October MS Parents for Vaccine Rights was given the opportunity to appear on MS Public Broadcasting's Southern Remedy TV Show.

We were admittedly hesitant to do an interview with a state sponsored TV show since we are fighting to change the nature of a state program, but decided that we would do our best and hope that whatever coverage we got would give our MPVR members a voice if nothing else. So we held our nose and went for it!

Overall, we are pleased that Southern Remedy was kind to us and that our philosophy was not twisted and made to look like something it isn't. We do feel that our side of the debate was quite abbreviated, even eliminating some of our most important and compelling points, such as the impressive number of vaccine doses our children are getting and the fact that the MS State Department of Health is refusing medical waivers requested by pediatricians. This, we believe is important for the public to know, as it usually results in mouths hanging open.

We were thrilled to have shared airtime with our supporting friend Barbara Loe Fisher from The National Vaccine Information Center. Barbara was able to deliver a clear and compelling common sense message that bolstered our story. Thank you to all of our friends at NVIC!

Also, presentation of each side was obviously unbalanced. The pro-vaccine side was given a grossly disproportionate amount of time than our pro-parental rights side. A woman who claimed to have been injured by polio as a child was interviewed, but there were no vaccine injured children's stories presented.

At the end of the day we have no regrets and are very thankful to MPB for the opportunity!